Next month I will try running a 2.50 marathon. Here’s how I’ve prepared (consistency is everything).

Actually, I haven’t been “preparing” for a race. I haven’t even signed up yet. I’ve been running with perfect consistency for almost two years. My commitment to consistency helped me to run my first sub-three-hour (2.57) marathon in October 2021 and a 1.19 half marathon in February 2022. I’m proud of my marathon, but I was very pleased with my half marathon, as I greatly exceeded my own expectations. I was hoping I could run at a 6.10 min/mile pace but ended up running 6.03 which allowed me to get under 80 minutes.

I have ramped up my running routine a little since my marathon six months ago in October 2021, but the foundation of my running routine hasn’t changed much. Did I mention consistency?! In this story — My Journey to a sub-3-hour marathon — I shared how sticking to a habit was a lot more important than training for a goal. This mindset is still the same.

So I will try to finish my marathon in 2 hours and 50 minutes. That’s a 6.30 minutes/mile pace. A few years ago I could barely run a single mile this fast!

In the year preceding my last year’s marathon, I’d been running a little over 50 miles a week. Although in recent months I had some stretches of 65–70 miles/week (for example, in January I ran 65 a week), on average I haven’t ramped up my mileage that much. I tried but every now and then because of travel, I regressed back to 55.